Criminal

White illustration on a black background showing a church graveyard, with a few trees here and there and the church in the background. There are clouds in the sky and there's a full moon. Text: Episode 198: The Hammersmith Ghost. Criminal.

The Hammersmith Ghost

Episode #198

2022-10-07 05:00:29

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In the winter of 1803, residents outside of London reported strange encounters with a ghost. Some said it looked like Napoleon Bonaparte, or a horse without a head. Others said the ghost breathed fire and smoke. By Christmas, there was a “full-scale phantom panic.” Shortly after the New Year, one...
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Mantrap

Episode #197

2022-09-23 05:00:29

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Ed and Bertha Briney’s unoccupied farmhouse was reportedly broken into 50 times over 10 years. They put up “No Trespassing” signs, repeatedly complained to sheriffs in two different counties, nailed doors shut, and boarded up windows - but nothing worked. So they decided to try something else.
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Hungryland

Episode #196

2022-09-09 05:00:49

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In March of this year, a biologist working in a nature preserve in Florida saw an alligator swimming along a canal with something in its mouth. When she looked closer, she realized it was a human arm.
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The Procedure

Episode #195

2022-08-19 05:00:04

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In 1967, a very unlikely group of individuals gathered to quietly break the law and help facilitate abortions. They established a phone number. When you called it, a recording of a woman's voice would tell you what to do next.
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The Divorce Colony

Episode #194

2022-08-05 05:00:35

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This episode picks up where Episode 193 left off. We suggest you listen to them in order. Blanche Molineux visited her husband while he was in prison for murder to keep up what she called the “ghastly pretense.” But eventually, she couldn’t keep it up anymore, and bought a train...
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A Ring and a Bottle

Episode #193

2022-07-22 05:00:18

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In 1895, Blanche Chesebrough moved into a small apartment in Gramercy Park, in New York City. She brought a portrait of her parents, a vase for flowers, and her piano. She later said, “music had been my one absorbing interest,” and that she wasn’t interested in getting married. But eventually, she agreed to anyway. When she returned home from her honeymoon, she learned her husband was suspected of murder.
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The Devil’s Hole Pupfish

Episode #192

2022-07-08 10:50:35

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There is a cave in the middle of the Mojave Desert called Devil's Hole. It's home to a small iridescent blue fish, called the Devil's Hole pupfish - and you can't find them anywhere else in the world. There are fences, cameras, and motion sensors for security. In 2016, three men rammed the fences and broke in. 
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The Sailor’s Teeth

Episode #191

2022-06-24 13:20:39

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In 1982, forensic dentists examined the teeth of thousands of sailors stationed on an aircraft carrier called the USS Carl Vinson in Newport News, Virginia. It’s been called “the largest dental dragnet likely in U.S. history.” 
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Day In, Day Out

Episode #190

2022-06-10 13:03:27

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When Laura Coates decided to become a prosecutor in Washington, D.C., she was told that the job would be “human misery.” She says she remembers thinking, “If there's one person in the justice system who could do something about human misery, surely, it's the powerful prosecutor.” After four years, she quit.
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The Doctors

Episode #189

2022-05-27 13:40:50

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In 2018, we talked with three of America’s most experienced trauma surgeons about what happens when someone is shot.
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John & Trooper

Episode #188

2022-05-13 12:17:02

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For 10 years, Detective John Reilly and his horse Trooper were the only mounted team assigned to Central Park. They rode the same route every day. John says Trooper didn’t like change. “If you changed the route, he got mad.” And then in 2019, they both retired at the same time.
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427 Emails

Episode #187

2022-04-22 12:15:40

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There is a guard at Pontiac Correctional Center who some staff praise for being tough and having their backs. But other staff and people in the prison say she is known for abuse. The Department of Corrections and State Police obtained 427 of the guard’s emails, revealing the conversations she’d had with other staff when it seemed like no one was looking.
Black and white sketch of a magpie, standing on a rock, with its head tilted as if it’s looking at you. Text: Episode 186: The Magpie, Criminal.

The Magpie

Episode #186

2022-04-08 12:01:43

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When Shigeru Yabu was 9 years old, he and his family were incarcerated at Heart Mountain Internment Camp, along with thousands of other Japanese and Japanese American families. One day, Shigeru discovered a baby magpie that had fallen out of its nest. He named her Maggie. “That bird walked up my arm all the way to my shoulder, and we looked at each other, eye to eye.”
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The Princess

Episode #185

2022-03-25 12:01:48

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One night in 1817, a woman appeared in the village of Almondsbury, in England. No one could figure out who she was. But everyone wanted to solve the mystery.
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Ransom

Episode #184

2022-03-11 11:45:13

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Miles Hargrove was in his sophomore year of college when he got a phone call that his father had been kidnapped.

Breaking into the FBI

Episode #183

2022-02-25 12:56:40

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In 1971, a woman visited an F.B.I. office in Pennsylvania. She identified herself as a college student interested in learning about opportunities for women in the F.B.I. None of that was true. She was there “to see whether there were security alarms before we could decide if we could break in.”